, 1887-09-15
BRAVE JIM MOORE.
RecoIIections of Character Prom
inent in the History of the West.
From Pony Express Messenger to
Stage Station Keeper.
Selling Flour and Grain at Exorbi
tant Figures.
Fighting Indians Near Cheyenne in
the Spring of SO.

OF Cheyenne Is better remembered than
james Moore, or " Jim as he was IA
miliarly called by nearly every one. In
those stirring days it was not the custom
to inquire concerning the predecessors of
a citizen who paid his bills and conducted
himself respectfully. and the writer has
never been able to learn where Jim orig
inally came from. But that does not
matter, and could not improve his good
qualities, which were many.
Upon his advent in the unsettled West
he first became a pony express messenger.
an occupation of necessity dangerous and
hazardous in the extreme. On numerous
occasions the brave men engaged in this
service saved their lives simply because
the animals upon which they rode were
the most enduring and ~fleetest obtainable.
1t was a common remark among mail
contractors that they would earn their
money if the supply OF horses and men
was not exhausted.
Having amassed a snug sum in dodg-
ing Indians Mr.. Moore became proprietor
of a stage station on the Platte river.
Here everything he touched turned into
gold. He fed passengers and charged
them literally for their meals, bought
weary horses from hurrying emigrants at
ridiculously low figures and sold them an
finals in good condition at correspondingly
heavy advances. Moore made enough
money in -four and grain alone to satisfy
the ordinary fortune hunter, but would
not retire from his pursuit for wealth.
While Jim always had au eye on the
main chance, he was never even indirect
ly accused OF parsimoniousness. His am-
bition seemed to be to transact business
on a large scale, in short to become known
as the merchant prince of the West. His
profits on the food articles mentioned
above were sometimes simply
For a tride less than 50 per 100 pounds
-four could be laid in his warehouses. In
winter when roads were impossible and
food scarce he disposed of the -four for as
high as $50 per sack. Corn, oats and
bran were sold proportionately. At that
time money was plentiful and marketable
products scarce.
Jim finally wearied of stage-station life
and when it was announced that a town
and military post were to be erected on
Crow creek he Immediately started for the
Magic City. Arriving in Cheyenne he
and a Mr.. Hook, who is also we'll known
to old-timers, established a corral and
horse market in connection with their
large freighting business. Their. build
ings were upon Moth Neil street, at that
period the business center of the prosper
GUS and growing city. The firm owned
saw-mills in the mountains and furnished
the lumber with which the first edIices
on the site of the town were erected.
Moore l. Hook we're the euvied owners of
the only safe in the settlement for many
months, and were at times the trusted
custodians of large amounts of money be
longing to other people. The depositorS
who did not throw the bankers a $50 gold
piece occasionally were in an almost indis-
cernable minority.
The Indians, s%trolling and malicious
Cbeyennes and Sioux, with an occasional
band of Utes, were committing numerous
and aggravating depredations in this Sec
ton and seriously interfered with the
horses and lumber wagons. 1--WE are
bound to make money" said Moore to
Hook one day, IF we can only succeed
in keeping the Injuns supplied with
herders, teamsters and horses" Day
horse "wranglers" were paid 5000 per
month and were scarcely to be secured at
that figure. while "nighthawks' received
anywhere from $500 to $500 per month.
They were either killed or resigned in or
der to save their scalps. Jim employed
half-breeds to watch his herd until one of
them assisted a party of redskins in cap
turing a band OF his horses. He hired
them simply because they held to life
more tenaciously and could be better
spared than a good white man.
When an Indian alarm reached the
the city Jim was invariably the first man
in the saddle ready and anxious to hit
the breeze" His reputation as a fearless
Indian fighter was second only to that OF
Phil. Kearney, who was then famous as a
''civilizer."
One day early in the spring of '68
word came hat Indians had captured and
were rapidly getting u of the country
with a large bunch of horses belonging to
Moore Il Hook, which were grazing on
the bluffs Immediately south of the city.
Jim was soon at the head Of a well armed
party and in pursuit of his property and
a few scalps, if they could possibly be Sc.
cured. The volunteers were met at the
foot of Eddy street by one of the herders
who had escaped by timely and hasty
fight. His companion was found three
querters of a mile further on stone dead
and horribly mutilated, with his body
representing a mammoth porcupine,
bearing sharp and -murderous Indian
arrows instead of it's ordinary weapons of